Pros & Cons

Wall panels are chic and classy. Imagine posh apartments and cottage houses through the centuries.

Medieval houses had them, so did Georgian and Victorian rooms.

They were considered useful and fashionable through history and they spread all the way to America and European colonies abroad.

So paneling your home is a statement in classical style.

Wainscoting has two practical purposes as well: panels can hide wall imperfections, while still being both repairable and replaceable.

They can hide deformities, wires or cables, which stick out, and even prevent moisture.

Additionally, wainscoting helps insulate the walls on the inside.

Even if you don’t have a moisture problem, your room can probably still use some sound dampening or thermal insulation to stay warm in winter.

On the other hand, panels do need maintenance, even more so than many types of walls.

Wood can rot, deform or lose moisture under specific circumstances.

Of course, wall panels can be repaired or even replaced, but home owners should still take care of them – by making sure they are installed properly and not deformed by external factors, by painting them with the proper paint, or by waxing them in case the room conditions are too dry.

Another debatable negative side of wainscoting is being old-fashioned.

Just as some consider them classy, many would believe they don’t always match well with a cleaner minimalist modern look.

Our collection of more than 100+ ideas will show you that wainscoting could be very fashionable and modern-looking.

Price and materials

How much does wainscoting cost?

Wainscoting can be cheap or expensive depending on who made it and what it is made of.

Normally its price ranges from 10 to 30 dollars per square foot.

Plywood is the cheapest and so can be wood, depending on the type of wood you use.

Wooden wainscoting is trickier to install, because it contracts and expands depending on temperatures/seasons, but carries extra elegance when you pick panels made of walnut or cherry.

Plastic and MDF (medium-density fibreboard) both cost approximately the same.

Both are not wood, but look well enough, and the main difference between the two is how they react to moisture: plastic handles moist conditions great, while MDF would usually break down, so it shouldn’t be used in a bathroom.

If you want the best wainscoting look, you can invest in natural wood and have it manually crafted and professionally installed to prevent deformation.

Types Of Wainscoting

There are a few types: flat and
raised panels, beadboard and board and batten.

When we think of wainscoted walls, we normally imagine panels.

Beadboard

Beadboard wainscoting is an exception to this rule.

It consists on panes, installed next to each other vertically and separated by a narrow bead (ridge).

The panels used for wainscoting each consist of a frame (rails and stiles) with a flat panel inside it.

They can be flat (flat panel wainscoting) or raised (raised panel wainscoting).

The difference between the two types is not the frame, but only the panel itself.

Board and Batten

This style adds informality to wainscoting and is even popular for the exterior covering of structures.

The purpose of the battens is to give strength to the construction.

Wainscoting Height

What is the proper height for wainscoting?

Wainscoting normally covers 1/3 of the wall.

Historically for many years the accepted measurement was a chair’s height.

Modern architects often decide to change this either by inverting the rule and covering 2/3, by using the golden ration (there are calculators online for that) or by matching the height of the windowsill.

Occasionally the wainscot could take over the entire wall, which is somewhat common in hallway. Still, the 1/3 rule is still widely popular.

Simple DIY Wainscoting Method

Once you have chosen your preferred
wainscoting style and purchased it, there is an easy way to DIY wainscoting for
interior walls:

clean the walls with a sponge or cloth, and a cleaning agent

measure where the rails or battens should be installed

measure where there may be an electricity socket and make a cut in the board or panel, which will cover it

sand and prime the boards and panels if you feel like they need to be extra smooth

place the panels or boards and make sure it all looks fine, now is the time to make slight adjustments

put a ledge or ‘shelf’ on top if that is your preferred style

paint using a brush, surfaces will probably be too narrow for you to use a roller

Creative Wainscoting Styles

A fireplace
is more than a piece of furniture. So why not showcase it.

The dark
colors here add a slick and classy feel.

Huge panels,
which cover the whole wall and are also smooth enough to reflect light back
into the room.

Creative wainscoting
ideas will make you guests interested in your house.

These room
builders have their priorities straight.

The arcs in
this house are a huge hint the owner is a fan of classical style.

The wainscoting doesn’t have to stand out with its colors, sometimes unique shapes are all it needs.

Some
creative and interesting patterns in a stylish-looking bathroom.

The raised
battens here make the room feel much different and energetic.

A creative
project, which successfully hides the spots where separate panels touch.

Creative
styles of wainscoting stand out and are for people who are sure they want
something different for their homes.

Detailed carefully crafted wainscoting may cost extra to make, but that is one of the reasons it makes a strong impression and could increase the price of your home a lot.

Extra geometrical elements make the space look busy, but also add style when closed in a smaller room.

Wainscoting can be an art form by itself. The
interweaving sets of panels here look mesmerizing.

Wainscoting Paint Ideas

Most popular paint color for wainscoting and paneling is white or at least some of its variations and shades – snow white, cream white, muted white, etc.

Light gray, light blue and beige could also work great if you can combine them with the overall interior design – like wall colors, furniture and ceilings.

If the area is well lit you can opt for darker colors like – dark gray, brown, navy blue or even black.

Choosing the best paint color for your wainscoted walls is very important , so it’s a good idea to plan about colors as early as possible in order to save time and money if something goes wrong later in the project.

Conclusion:

Even though wainscoting isn’t a must to make a room livable, you can use it as a means to add splendor or simply a sense of style and tradition to your boring walls.

I hope this article answered your questions and gave you some useful insights and beautiful wainscoting examples, to help you gather ideas for a future home transformation.

Ivo is the owner of Decorhomeideas.com – he started the site back in 2013, when he was still working in a Home Decor company, but the passion for interior design and decorations lead to creating the site and following his own dream of creating a great Home Decor, DIY and Gardening online-magazine.